Monday, 9 December 2013

Strangers - Divine (Feat Lou Bird)

Single review by soul1@thesoundofconfusion.co.uk

Since their single 'Something New' back in the spring, London group Strangers have been neatly blending alt-pop with a more band-based "indie"-type sound, producing some great songs along the way and letting us have them each for free. If you've been following either our site or the band in general, you'll probably be familiar with 'Sense Of Liberty', 'No Longer Lost', 'Fires' and more. Basically you can get a whole load of Strangers' material for nothing, and for a band with the potential to go places this is more than a bargain. Now, like a special Christmas treat, the guys have bundled together each of the freebies, an acoustic version of 'Fires', a Satchi K & HXE remix of the same track, and a take on previous single 'Something New' as reworked by the excellent Jack Robert Hardman. The 'Close' EP features ten tracks in total, and continuing their generosity it's another bargain at well under a fiver for the lot.

If compiling their download series along with some top remixes wasn't enough, Strangers have teamed up with vocalist Lou Bird for the previously unreleased 'Divine' which is also included in the package. In terms of mixing modern pop with something a little more alternative, this is perhaps their best track to date. Were they an established act, 'Divine' would probably be fairly big news. It's not overly mainstream yet it sounds as though it was made for radio; it's the type of song that can fit in anywhere and unite fans of commercial music with those who prefer a touch more edge. Really it's just a splendid alt-pop song, and you can't say much fairer than that. Hopefully this year of establishing a fanbase, spreading their word and allowing their name and their music to spread freely as far and wide as they can will pay off, and in 2014 we could just be finding that this band are strangers no more.